Towns see value in internet option with Whip City Fiber

Date: 2/18/2022

WESTERN MASS. – The push toward greater access to municipal internet continued throughout 2021 and will move further in 2022 as more communities explore the idea of municipal internet as an alternative to private internet service providers.

The main driver of that push in Hampden County and Western Massachusetts has been Whip City Fiber, the municipal internet service run by Westfield Gas & Electric (WG&E). As of early 2022, Whip City Fiber is assisting 20 communities in Massachusetts in setting up their own municipal internet service, 16 of which have completed construction for the utilities. The other four – Blandford, Beckett, Heath, and Goshen – are not complete, but have customers on the internet service already.

WG&E General Manager Thomas Flaherty said Westfield, the namesake and original location for their internet service, has a 70 percent “pass rate”, meaning that 70 percent of households have access to Whip City Fiber if they want it. Of that 70 percent, about half have signed up to the municipal internet, while the remainder stayed with private options.

He said that a significant portion of Westfield’s remaining unconnected neighborhoods will be under construction this year, and that Westfield should get over 90 percent by May 2023.

“My goal is about 98 or 99 percent by the end of 2025,” said Flaherty, “Right now, we are on pace for that by the end of the 2024 construction season.”

Other communities are considering contracting with Whip City Fiber, or another municipal internet service to give options beyond the usual Comcast or Verizon services. In Southwick, the High Speed Internet Committee was recently reformed with the purpose of exploring options like Whip City Fiber. The town had once considered doing so in the past, but talks stalled when it became apparent that the price tag would be too high.

Last summer, WG&E returned to Southwick with a restructured version of the same offer, prompting the reforming of the committee.

Whip City Fiber does not own any of the infrastructure when a town chooses to contract with them, it is owned by the city or town itself. Flaherty said that Whip City Fiber still manages the infrastructure and provides the tools to make it function.

“If all these towns want in on their own, they would need to spend $5 to 10 million on things like infrastructure, maintenance, and customer service,” said Flaherty.

In Blandford, construction is not complete, but a significant portion of the hilltown’s households are already connected to the service. Peter Langmore, chair of the Municipal Light Board in Blandford, said that the town has 87.5 percent of its residents signed up to Whip City Fiber, and that he is completely satisfied with how it has functioned thus far.

“I haven’t seen an instance of any downtime, knock on wood, since it was installed,” said Langmore.

Though some people in Blandford stayed with their private internet option, they signed up for what Langmore called a “cold drop.” That means they installed the infrastructure to connect to Whip City Fiber on their property, but did not actually connect to the service. That way, if one wants the service in the future, or wants to sell their house as internet ready, the connection points are already there to do so.

There is no hookup fee, but there is a monthly cost for the service that varies by community. In Westfield, it is $70 per month, while in West Springfield it is $80 per month.

Flaherty said that their service is thinking about expanding beyond Western Massachusetts as well. Falmouth, a community on Cape Cod with 24,000 potential internet customers, formed a committee to explore their options, possibly to contract with Whip City Fiber in the same way as the 20 other nearby communities.

In addition to Falmouth and Southwick, Hampden, Sheffield, Southampton, and Williamstown have begun exploring municipal internet as well.

Other communities being served by Whip City Fiber include Alford, Ashfield, Becket, Charlemont, Chesterfield, Colrain, Cummington, Leyden, New Ashford, New Salem, Otis, Plainfield, Rowe, Washington, Wendell, and Windsor.